Exercise, keep on sista's!

After just presenting to the fabulous women of women's conference about exercise and nutrition, I read about an added benefit. It is extremely bothersome for those women to age and feel the effects of those blasting flashes of heat, "night sweats, cardiac symptoms, muscle and joint pain, sleeping disorder symptoms, depressive mood, irritability, anxiety, exhaustion, sexual problems, and urinary symptoms" of menopause.

How integral is a good exercise program? See for yourself.

Long-term exercise reduced menopausal symptoms

February 12, 2010

By Sherry Boschert

Postmenopausal women improved their physical fitness and reported reductions in the severity of menopausal symptoms after 12-24 weeks of aerobic exercise in three 70-minute sessions per week.

The 65 women (mean age 50.1 years) rated the severity of menopausal symptoms on the self-administered Menopause Rating Scale questionnaire at baseline, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks in the uncontrolled study. The program of aerobic and calisthenic exercise aimed for 75%-80% of maximal heart rate according to the Karvonen method and consisted of 10 minutes of warm-up exercises; 40 minutes of aerobics; 15 minutes of exercise targeting the abdomen, hip, and leg muscles; and 5 minutes for cool-down and stretching.

Participants reported significant decreases in the severity of hot flushes, night sweats, cardiac symptoms, muscle and joint pain, sleeping disorder symptoms, depressive mood, irritability, anxiety, exhaustion, sexual problems, and urinary symptoms between the start and the end of the study, Dr. Selma Karacan of Selcuk University in Konya, Turkey reported in Science & Sports.

Some of the symptoms showed improvement by 12 weeks and further significant improvements by 24 weeks, including vasomotor symptoms, muscle and joint pain, psychological symptoms, and sexual problems. The women reported no significant change in vaginal dryness (Sci. Sports 2009 [doi:10.1016/j.scispo.2009.07.004]).

Significant improvements also were seen in resting heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, flexibility, aerobic power, and the ability to perform sit-ups, push-ups, and right or left hand grips. Body weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, and fat weight decreased significantly, with no change in lean body mass values.

The findings support results from previous observational studies of physically active postmenopausal women compared with age-matched, sedentary control women. No randomized controlled trials have looked at the efficacy of exercise in managing hot flushes.

A decline due to safety concerns in recent years in the use of hormone replacement therapy to manage the vasomotor symptoms of menopause adds to the importance of finding that evidence-based lifestyle modifications can help menopausal symptoms. The current study suggests that a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness may help reduce menopausal symptoms, Dr. Karacan concluded.

STOP THE ENERGY DRINKS!!!!

Hello friends, family and countrymen.

The Word of wisdom has once again come through to help us. We all know that it says not to drink hot drinks suggesting black tea and coffee since that was what it was at the time the revelation was given to the prophet Joseph Smith. Many ask why? Well, because it was a commandment. Pretty simple really. If your doctor asks you to stop picking your nose, it's probably for a good reason. If that's not good enough for you, then look into it. It's a DRUG! Drugs have their place don't get me wrong. What do Energy drinks have in them? Drugs and "vitamins".

Just today, there was released a study where Energy drinks are linked to cardiovascular problems that could lead to a heart attack, such as heightened blood pressure, increased platelet clotting, and a hindered blood vessel lining.

Further studies will come out in regards to what exactly it is in the energy drink whether it's the caffeine, taurine, or other ingredients. So keep an eye out for those results.

In a cohort of otherwise fit and healthy subjects, the present study demonstrated endothelial dysfunction and platelet hyperaggregability 1 hour after energy drink consumption, with an associated increase in blood pressure.

The energy drink used in this study contains caffeine, taurine (an amino acid), and glucuronolactone (a glucose metabolite). Additional substances incorporated in the drink include vitamins (B2, -5, -6, -12) along with sweeteners and thickeners. It remains uncertain which of these compounds are responsible for the above findings. Of the individual ingredients, caffeine is the best characterized; however, there are still conflicting results due to variable doses of caffeine used and different techniques used to measure platelet function. While no effect on platelet aggregation, or even improved effects on endothelial function has been observed, it is important to note that there is no evidence to date to support the suggestion that chronic coffee consumption has any impact on cardiovascular events. Taurine is seen in high concentration in platelets. Interestingly, the exact function of taurine in the platelet remains uncertain. Supplemental taurine has been felt to have potential beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system via mediating redox stress. The potential effect of taurine to explain the detrimental effects of energy drink consumption on platelet and endothelial function therefore seems unlikely. No data exist about the impact of glucuronolactone on platelet or endothelial function. As endothelial dysfunction and impaired platelet function are associated with elevated glucose levels, it is possible that glucuronolactone might contribute to the observed detrimental effects of energy drinks.